19 Jan
From Steven M. Johnson’s fascinating (un)predictions at the Museum of Possibilities by way of Neatorama, comes hand-drawn bicycle designs “that are (thankfully, always) just around the corner.”
Many more whimsical “patent depending” bike designs seen at Neatorama.
17 Dec
The death-defying cycling madmen of Whiskeydrunk Cycles setup their dreaded Whiskeydrome for a fellow drunkard’s birthday party on December 16th, 2010.
See the time-lapse video of the setup below (be sure to visit the YouTube HD version in full-screen mode for the grandiose effect!):
More shenanigans are seen in stills photographs of the evening.
6 Oct
This Friday, October 8, 2010, 5pm at 5th Street across from Toad in the Hole Pub. It’s Gran La Fawnduh.
FREE!
Levi’s Gran Fondo kick-off exclaims: BYOB (Bring Your Own Bike), including DIY hand-built rides, eccentric builders, free beer, catering, and all the fragrant chain grease you can muster.
Rumor says FBUC will be along including Todd Barricklow’s wheeled conundrums, Whiskeydrunk Cycle’s Whiskeydrome, and Krank-Boom-Clank, and more.
Summer ain’t over yet, folks!
25 Sep
The crack team of cutthroat builders infamously known as Whiskeydrunk Cycles have gone overboard… literally!
WDC would like to present the WHISKEYDROME! Demonstrations of derring-do shall be seen throughout the day this Sunday, September 26th, 2010.
11 Mar
The fine folks at Google Maps have recently added a most expedient method of planning a bicycle route upon the Aetherwebs in some 150 cities, including Santa Rosa.
Note that dark green lines represent bike-only paths, pale green for marked bike lanes on roads, and dotted green lines show good biking alternatives.
ITEM!
Not everyone is gleeful about the new service however. The New York Post wonders if there are bona fide “fatal flaws” in the suggested routes. Of course, there are two problems herein:
We invite any intrepid biking adventurists to explore said Santa Rosa routes and report back. Best of luck!
10 Feb
Guest author: Joe Greenlee has worked in copywriting for various websites, and currently works for a local, independently owned video store here in Santa Rosa. He has a BA in English literature, and enjoys reading, bookbinding, running, politics and philosophy, and is currently working on his first novel. He hopes to one day own a real rocket pack.
As an avid bicyclist and someone who prides himself on getting around by bicycle quite a bit, it occurs to me that there are a number of tales regarding its beginnings that many are unaware of. When the U.S. first entered the manufacture and widespread use of bicycles in the 19th century, the Gilded Age was in high gear. That meant that although opportunities to advance ones position in life were available, the gap between rich and poor was fairly obvious. It also meant a lot of horse drawn carriages, ingrained racism, and a society hostile to blacks either making a name for themselves or advancing into white dominated fields. When the bicycle industry began, it was associated with white men with a passion for new technologies.
Enter Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor. Born the son of a black horse coachman for a white family, Marshall took his nickname from a military uniform he wore as a child, when he began his career. His beginnings came with a passion for public performance, doing stunts for crowds that gave him automatic (or rather gear-matic) attention for his acrobatic skill. And back then let’s just say bicycle safety was less of an issue for mainstream culture. Bicycles themselves were far less sturdy, often tall and awkwardly proportioned, and no one wore pads or helmets. From there Marshall worked his way into the world of cycling, but alas, he was always bound to a struggle uphill, and the easier downhill cruising was far and further between.
19 May
The steadfast showboatin’ hucksters of kinetic whimsy known as Krank-Boom-Clank took Northern California by storm this past weekend of the 16th-17th of May, 2009.
Both the Santa Rosa 115th Annual Luther Burbank Rose Parade and Santa Cruz’s River Arts Festival Kinetic Art Cruz saw the bike mangling lads in full rolling glory upon their famed Hennepin Crawler.
The boys were honored to procure two distinguished awards as well:
See sunny photographs of the merry pageantry on wheels in the following slide show below:
17 Feb
Wired reports that the venerable bicycle turns 90 years old today (in a somewhat loose definition). The Great Handcar Regatta owes much to the Draisine and the many steadfast inventors who built upon each other’s discoveries, leading to the “bikes” we know and love today!
Around February 17, 1818, Baron Karl Christian Ludwig von Drais de Sauerbrun invented the first two-wheeled personal transport vehicle as an alternative to expensive and inconvenient horse travel.
Drais called his patented contraption the Laufmaschine or “running machine” as it had neither pedals nor brakes, forcing riders to use their feet for propulsion and stopping. Flimsy leather shoes of the day and virtually no smooth paved roads ruined any chance of the machine’s popular use.
However, aristocrats found the invention charming enough to buy and race with. Eventually the French, among others, adopted the steadily-improving bicycle, calling it the Draisine, a term that is still used today for human powered railcars.
For a quick tour of the bicycle’s humble beginnings, see the following slideshow from the Institute and Museum of the History of Science: Cycling Through Time
7 Aug
As witnessed at the recent Santa Rosa Bike Coalition’s July 4th Festival, The Great Handcar Regatta Tent of Curiosities and the Krank-Boom-Clank boys on their revisionist wheels of whimsey will be enlivening Heritage Days in sunny Santa Rosa this Saturday August 9th, 2008.
The event takes place in Railroad Square in the old downtown of Santa Rosa from 10am to 4pm. Visit our Directions page.
For a tiny taste of Regatta panache, see the SR Bike Coalition Festival photographs at Flickr:
21 Jul
THIS JUST IN!
The Krank-Boom-Clank bike mangling boys hit New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat on Sat., July 19th. Photos seen at Flickr.
Word has it that the festival was a rollicking good time, replete with a rowdy Chicago-based marching known as Mucca Pazza, the vivacious and verily pink Sprockettes, plus more bands, the helmeted madness of Cyclecide’s rodeo of truly bizarre wheels, and so much ambrosial beer (and yet more delights such as the New Orleans style marching wake for the dying love of cars via a child’s Cadillac Escalade carried upon shoulders on a litter and the scads of costumed bike fanatics in attendance too)!
© 2012 Handcar Regatta. All Rights Reserved.
